hey guys the outside door handels on the ford will be gone shortly and in the summer its fine to just reach in a window and open the door, the placment of the inside handle makes you wonder if they built it just for that reason. but eventualy id like to put a push button or remote poper system so when it gets cold out or it snows i dont have to try and get in threw a window now here is my question, we all know that batteries die and with no other way to get in the car you realy should have a manual back up to your poppers. like a cable you could pull or something so what im asking is what would you do, what have you done. that you would recomend for a fail safe? thanx tim
I'm planning the same thing right now. I'v heard a good option is to run a hood or choke cable through the hinge or speaker cable opening in your door and run it into a wheel well or under the hood. My friend has something similar for his trunk which goes to the rear seat.
I mounted a steel cable near the same place where the solenoid pulls - went over a roll system to the front of the drivers door, drilled a little hole near the side mirror (so nobody could see it)and mounted a little knob on the cable - small but good enouth to pull
On my old mans shoe box he had cable that was right inside the front fenderwell. the cable hooked to the linkage thru the door thru the inner fender to a bottom of a bolt the bolt was held tight in the in fender looking like just a bolt you pulled the head. the bolt pulled forward pulling the cable. I think he had a stiff spring on it to keep tension but i dont remember that part.
a friend of mine used bearclaw latches ...he put the latch in the cab of his 32 P/U and the striker on the door....he ran a rod down from the latch and put a drawer pull on the end....it's all hidden under the cab and is practically foolproof...just toe it to get in
I like underhood best because then you can have a hood lock and only you can get in. Your clepto neighbor only needs to see you reach under the wheelwell once to know how to get in your car. I think most people know to check the wheelwell anyway when breaking into a shaved custom. . . i always do anyway when i'm out for joyrides.
Next time you guys are in a junk yard look at an Aerostar van They have 2 remote gas door releases 1 going forward beside the driver seat. another (backup release) inside the quarter panel. nice light cable plenty long enough. Other vehicles might be similar.
Here in Finland says law something like this: drivers door must be openable from outside mechanically. this means that here is quite genius systems how to hide opening mechanism side/peepmirrors, hidden under sidetrims, fake antennas etc.
Those hood cables with the T handle are good- run it out of frt of door and down under rear of front fender[out of sight]
After reading Des, what about taking the average pull up to open mechanism door handle, and modify it to attach to a side mirror, so that pulling up on the mirror unlatches the door?
[ QUOTE ] After reading Des, what about taking the average pull up to open mechanism door handle, and modify it to attach to a side mirror, so that pulling up on the mirror unlatches the door? [/ QUOTE ]\ Likewise, what about a piece of trim that you could lift up on slightly to pop the door latch? Wouldn't be too hard with some of the trim on the 40's - 60's cars that runs along the doors (If you keep it.) You could keep it tight to the body with a spring. MercMan
James, there are hundreds of ways to set one up. First time I shaved one,(64 Falcon) I hooked the linkage up to the door lock. Just used the key to open it. Worked great(I kept a "hide-a-key" under the bumper, for the times I locked the key inside) If you go electric, or only have one door functional from the outside, have a back up. Don't set anything up that can get tripped while your driving. I had my extra keyless activator in my pocket and moved wrong once. Opened the door on my 53 ford at 60 mph. Made for a scarry few seconds. Be careful with switches under the rockers and fenders, I've seen some of them get tripped from rocks and such.
I did the key set up once in my uh...minitruck days. Also used a magnetic switch for a home alarm (radio shack). Not too sure how I'm going to do mine, but that's a ways off.
What do you use to hold the ends of the bike cable? I used some cheesey emergency entry kit and when you pulled the cable, all it did was flex inside it's housing. I know that I need a cable and a way to old the housing on both ends of the cable. What do you use?
root, the magnet ones just use a magnetically activated switch instead of a key fob or a button. You hide the switch somewhere near the outside of your car, like under a spotlight or I've even seen them inside on the edge of teh dash, and when you place a magnet over it, it activates the door solenoids.
Tim...I shaved the handles on my 49 coupe and used Plymouth Horizon latches in the 1/4 panels with the striker on the door itself, like Brewsir did. I ran a cable [brake self adjuster cables from 80's ford 3/4 and 1 tons] upward from the latch to a little pivoting, flush mounted handle sunk into the 1/4 window frame...the surface next to the glass that faces rearward. You would walk up to the car and push on the bottom of the almost-invisible flush mounted handle and the top of it would pivot out just enough to grab with your fingers. Pull down on it and it would lift the cable, tripping the latch and opening the door. I made the "handle" from 1/4" key stock and the hole it sat in was almost the same size as the handle, making the gap around it really tight...hard to see, even against gray primer. I never got around to making a linkage for the lock part of it but I could have, given the time... Lemme know and I'll send you an autographed non-scale illustration of it. BTW, your envelope of sacred shubox goodies went out in this afternoon's mail..Like Nick Burns says..... "YOU'RE WELCOMMMMMMMMME"
[ QUOTE ] What do you use to hold the ends of the bike cable? I used some cheesey emergency entry kit and when you pulled the cable, all it did was flex inside it's housing. I know that I need a cable and a way to old the housing on both ends of the cable. What do you use? [/ QUOTE ] When I was building cheap-ass Wal-Mart bikes, all the brake cables came with a solid metal cylinder attached on the ends, for quick release and install. If you go that route, get them from a quality bike because the cheap Wal-Mart ones were CRAP. Barely strong enough to apply the brakes without braking and they flexed bad. What I'd do is use emergency brake cable and mount a lever under the hood somewhere (at least if your hood opens from the outside). That way you wouldn't have to worry about the weather rusting it out or clogging it up.
hey rocky, ill be looking for that package in the mail and thank you a ton! for it. hopefully i should have some video fotage of the first time firing it up and maybe ill post it on here. i would love a pic of how you did your doors that sounds realy cool prolyl wont be online to replie much. in sioux city thers ben a giant snow/ice storm going on and all the phones,internet,and credit card machines are down city wide lol but i needed my fix so i grabed my buddies lap top and cell phone and went to work later tim
Radio shack sells the magnetic switch-- they're made for home alarm window switches. REALLY simple two wire interuption switch. I used to glue them to the windsheild (hidden by a decal). You palm the magnet part, walk up, tap your windsheild and the door pops open. The only problem is if anyone find its they only need a magnet to get in. Plus, a magnet can mess up credit cards, so don't carry them in the same pocket.
I plan on running mine under the hood like mentioned above, that way it's out of site, and if i have to use it with anyone watching, I can just act like I'm checking something else.
Alright, Tim.....I'll drarw it up from memory [!] and scan thet sucker...send it via e-mail unless someone else here wants to look at it...
You hafta fab up a pivot pin to go inside the B-pillar. A nut welded inside the b-pillar's body skin allows a bolt to pass through a drilled hole on the inside of the B-pillar, through the handle and thread into the welded nut. A little smoothing and a dab-o-bondo on the B-pillar helps if it warps from welding...Loc-tite on the threads keeps the bolt/pivot pin in place. I used a simple 1/4" bolt for mine. A small tension or return spring going to the bottom of the handle keeps the handle from rattling next to your ear and keeps the handle sitting flush with the body skin of the B-pillar. I didn't include it in my drarwing but a handle stop needs to be incorporated into the B-pillar to keep the handle [made from 1/4" key stock] sitting flush. The handle's damn near invisible if you keep your 1/4" slot to a close tolerance with the handle.
With the latch mounted in the quarter panel and the pin in the door, how do you open the door from the insdie? Long cable? On my '60 Chevy, I extended the door latch piece that the push button usually pushes on and drilled a 1/8" hole through the chrome and the door skin. I carry a long allen wrench with the short end bent into a ring on my key chain and simply push it into the hole to pop the door. No-one has noticed the hole yet. A fine black pinstripe all the way down the recessed bart of the chrome molding makes the hole invisable and my trim appears to be two 1/16" wide strips. Wouldn't work on a lot of cars though.
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